Mar/21

Debra Weisberg

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Material Drawing: Exploration and Connectivity

While my work is rooted in the formalism of abstractionism, the iconography alludes to a multitude of phenomena in nature: tidal pools of water, tornados twisting in space, land formations moving and shifting. The irregularity of their contours and orientation evolve in response to the wall on which they hang. The expanse of wall serves as a respite from their density and energetic surfaces. They appear to have suddenly landed on it, delicately clinging to the wall for a brief moment, unable to be contained by the flatness of the wall's surface.

My work is constructed using dozens of layers of torn paper or black and white tape that are repeatedly ripped, twisted and manipulated into a highly textured whirlpool of pulsating energy. The tape allows for a fluidity of line, a density of shape, and a material presence that emphasizes the visceral nature of the surface with its irregular contour. It is the surprises that occur in the making, the materials that I can't quite control despite my years of experience, that interests me the most. I believe this process gives the artwork its authenticity and spark and most parallels nature’s phenomena.

Debra Weisberg

New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University / Boston College

Debra Weisberg’s paper and tape works were exhibited in the International Paper Biennial in the Netherlands in 2013. In 2008 Weisberg was a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship winner in drawing and was a Somerville Arts Lottery recipient in 2008, 2004 and 2001. She twice attended the MacDowell Colony and was awarded an art residency in CanSerrat outside of Barcelona in June 2009. Her forty-foot high installation at the DeCordova Museum entitled,‘(Sub) Surface’, won an award for best museum installation from the Boston Art Critics Association.

Weisberg’s works are in numerous collections such as the Sonesta Hotel, General Hardware Manufacturing Company in NYC, Simmons College and Meditech. She has also done private commissions in Mass Power and Electric and in private homes. Weisberg has exhibited nationally: Gallery Kayafas, Boston; Art in General in NYC; the DeCordova Museum; Mills Gallery and Rose Museum in the Boston area; East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art.

Debra Weisberg teaches at Boston College and at New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University. She is artist in residence at Meditech Corporation where she teaches creativity workshops. Her practice includes creating large scale collaborative drawing installations as a visiting artist at schools and universities. She will be a visiting artist at Milton Academy in the fall of 2014.

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